Gus Chan/The Plain DealerMore than 80 anonymous online comments originated from the personal Internet address of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Someone using a personal e-mail account of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold has written anonymous, opinionated online comments relating to some of the judge's high-profile cases, including that of accused serial killer Anthony Sowell.

The judge's 23-year-old daughter, Sydney Saffold, said Thursday that she posted the comments as "lawmiss" on cleveland.com., a Web site affiliated with The Plain Dealer. But in a conference call with her lawyer and a reporter, the onetime law school student could not recall the number of comments she posted. The newspaper found more than 80 comments posted by lawmiss.

The judge said in an interview Wednesday that she had nothing to do with any comments posted by lawmiss.

An examination of Saffold's court-issued computer, obtained Thursday by The Plain Dealer with a public records request, shows someone used the computer to access cleveland.com at the exact times and dates of three comments posted under the username lawmiss. A lawyer representing the judge's daughter challenged the accuracy of the times shown in the listing.

Saffold's daughter declined to talk about the specifics of her postings.

"I don't think the content of my posts is necessarily pertinent," she said from her home in Columbus. "I know all of the people I spoke about . . . I don't see why I owe any explanations about my blogging activities."

Her disclosure came a day after the newspaper questioned her mother about the comments posted as lawmiss, a moniker created by someone using the judge's personal America Online account. Saffold confirmed that the e-mail account linked to lawmiss is her own. But she said she would never make comments about cases before her.

"Never," the judge said in an interview in her Justice Center chambers. "I have not. My daughter may have, but I have not."

Another lawmiss posting, which did not originate from Saffold's courthouse computer, referenced Saffold's sentencing of an RTA bus driver to six months for vehicular homicide. The post criticizes Rufus Sims, who defended the woman and is now one of the lawyers on Sowell's capital-murder case.

"Rufus Sims did a disservice to his client," the Nov. 21, 2009, post reads. "If only he could shut his Amos and Andy style mouth. What makes him think that is [sic] he insults and acts like buffon [sic] that it will cause the judge to think and see it his way. There are so many lawyers that could've done a much better job. This was not a tough case, folks. She should've hired a lawyer with the experience to truly handle her needs. Amos and Andy, shuffling around did not do it."

The Plain Dealer removed the comment for violating cleveland.com's community rules, which do not allow personal attacks.

Sims said he suspects that Saffold authored the post and intends to address the matter in court filings next week.

"This shows a personal disdain for me and a personal bias against me that she could easily take out on our client," he said, referencing Sowell. "That's the problem."

Asked about Saffold's daughter saying she wrote the post, Sims said: "That doesn't make any sense to me. Someone else is using the judge's account? Come on. Why would Sydney do it? I don't get it."

Jonathan Coughlin, disciplinary counsel for the Ohio Supreme Court, said he has never dealt with a case involving a judge anonymously commenting online about cases before the bench.

Legal experts contacted Friday said that a judge posting comments about his or her cases -- even under the anonymity of a screen name -- would be guilty of improper conduct and could be subject to disciplinary action.

But if someone else posts the comments, using the judge's personal e-mail account, the judge should not be held responsible, the experts said.

Christopher Fairman, a legal ethics expert and professor at Ohio State University's Michael E. Moritz College of Law, said the person authoring the comments makes "all the difference in the world.

"If the judge is doing it, it's a matter for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel," he said. "If it's the daughter, a different type of counselor is in order."

Attorney Bob Housel, who until recently served on the Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary board, would not speak specifically about Saffold, whom he considers a friend. But he said no judge should comment about cases or lawyers.

"To express an opinion about a certain lawyer, even though they are disguised on an Internet chat site, I don't know why a judge would do that, and it is something that could be considered inappropriate," Housel said.

The more than 80 comments posted under the lawmiss moniker since May 2007 covered a wide range of Northeast Ohio and national current events, and showed a familiarity with the inner workings of the Cuyahoga County government and Saffold's courtroom, in particular.

Comments included the Cleveland Browns' quarterback competition, the conditions at a local golf course, the quality of work by Plain Dealer columnists and news reporters, the county corruption investigation, and the performances of local politicians, prosecutors and defense lawyers.

Many of the most recent comments involved legal issues in three high-profile criminal cases before Saffold, including the Sowell case, the RTA driver and a triple-murder case that resulted in the conviction of Cleveland firefighter Terrance Hough Jr., another capital-murder case.

"If a black guy had massacred five people then he would've received the death penalty," lawmiss stated in a May 22, 2008, post about the sentencing of Hough to life without parole. "A white guy does it and he gets pat on the hand. The jury didn't care about the victims. They were set to cut him loose from day one. All of them ought to be ashamed."

Saffold's daughter said in the Thursday interview that she posted the comments as an active "blogger" with an interest in the court system. Asked how many comments she posted as lawmiss, she said "quite a few, more than five."

At several points during the interview, her lawyer, Larry Zukerman, broke into the conversation. "She's not going to sit here and be cross-examined," he said. "I think Sydney indicated she spoke through her words."

A lawmiss comment referencing the mental state of a relative of Plain Dealer reporter Jim Ewinger prompted the newspaper to investigate the source of the comment. The newspaper was able to trace the lawmiss username to the judge's personal AOL account.

The investigation represents a departure from the newspaper's general practice of allowing commenters on cleveland.com to remain anonymous. (Please see companion story).

Saffold criticized the newspaper for singling out the lawmiss comments for inspection. In the interview in her chambers, she cited the decision to trace the comment as further evidence that the newspaper is on a campaign to remove her from the bench.

"This smut and smear crap you're doing is disturbing," she said.

For many of her 16 years on the Common Pleas bench, Saffold has taken issue with the newspaper's coverage of her career. Much of her ire has focused on Ewinger, who covered Common Pleas courts for years but has not been on the beat for about 10 years.

Her complaints date to at least 1996, when Ewinger reported on the judge telling a woman who pleaded guilty to credit card fraud to find a better man.

"Men are easy," the judge told the woman. "You can go sit at the bus stop, put on a short skirt, cross your legs and pick up 25. Ten of them will give you their money. It's the truth." Saffold went on to tell the defendant: "If you don't pick up the first 10, then all you got to do is open your legs a little bit and cross them at the bottom and then they'll stop."

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